Insomniac's alternative history shooter saw the human race postpone WWII to defend against the alien Chimera. The third game was something of a return to traditional FPS values as it ditched regenerating health for medikits. The guns are the stars of the show once again and levelling them up gives you even more reason to pull the trigger. Flaming shotgun rounds anybody?

With Insomniac Games moving onto a multi-format future with Overstrike, this could well be the final Resistance title on the PS3. It was PS3 gamer’s first FPS love, but since then it has always been overshadowed by the technical powerhouse of Killzone. So how will the series bow out?

You now play as Joe Capelli, (R2 SPOILER!) the man forced to kill Nathan Hale as the Chimera virus finally overcame the former hero. Despite Capelli’s hand being forced, he was given a dishonourable discharge from the army. Four years later, the Chimera are still slowly strangling the remains of the human race from the earth and we find Capelli living with a small group of survivors and his wife and child.

Naturally the quiet can’t last, mainly thanks to one Dr. Malikov coming to find Joe to enable his help. The old doctor leads the enemy right to the base making for a frantic escape and a painful decision for Joe to leave his family and head to New York with the Doctor so they can destroy a tower that’s slowly freezing the world to death.

If you thought purchasing first-party Sony software would spare you from the dreaded online pass phenomenon, I'm afraid it won't. Especially if you're picking up Resistance 3 today. Insomniac's shooter kicks off Sony's new first-party online pass program, which must be active before you can hop online and start blasting your friends with alien weaponry. However, there's a catch; unlike recent online pass strategies, Resistance 3's won't be restricted to just one account on the console.

So, while the online pass can't be registered on multiple consoles, you can register as many accounts on your own console, which is vital for dual log-in where two players can hop online together. It's vital all potential Resistance 3 owners sign up for the online pass, as without it you won't be able to access any of the multiplayer modes. [Quarter Disorder]

Insomniac has released a launch trailer for anticipated PS3 shooter Resistance 3 ahead of its UK release this Friday. Expect a little backstory (yawn), some intense combat (yay!) and a brief look at the new Cryogun in action. The Resistance franchise is famed for its imaginative weaponry, so we're looking forward to smashing plenty of Chimera into tiny slivers of ice. You can check out our hands-on preview here, and click through the link for the new video.

Amid all this talk of Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3, we've sort of forgotten about poor old Resistance 3, which is actually shaping up pretty well, in fact. A beta has been on the cards for a while now, and Insomniac have finally lifted the lid on when it'll be launching; August the 10th. It includes two all new maps, where you can start levelling up and unlocking all manner of upgradable goodies.

Looking for a browser game to kill some time? Fancy unlocking some exclusive multiplayer items in Resistance 3 while you do it? Then you should probably head over to Global Resistance. Insomniac's social game provides tense strategy on a global scale - much like a gritty game of Risk - and will unlock various bonuses such as multiplayer skins, in-game titles and XP boosters once Resistance 3 hits the shelves this September.

You'll need to log in with your PSN ID or via Facebook. Let us know what you make of it!

Insomniac then took to the stage, unveiling a new level from Resistance 3. Set in St Louis, new protagonist Joseph Capelli navigates a war-torn city - which could be ripped straight from Fallout - offing Chimera with a wide range of weapons from rifles to shotguns. Capelli is aided by a resistance movement - geddit? - called the Remnants.

Remember when Resistance was always Sony's go-to boast for online player-count? The first game threw forty in the mix, the second sixty, and the third? Sixteen. No, not sixteen hundred. Not sixteen thousand. Six-teen. Yes, Insomniac is cutting Resistance 3's player-count to focus on "the fun times" fans had on the smaller, more intimate maps in previous games. And to make up for this, they're including a slew of new features.

Sony Announce Playstation Smartphone App

Sony has announced that a new smartphone app will soon allow PSN members to browse content, compare trophies and keep in touch with friends on the go. This application will be free to download for iPhone and Android devices, though it's worth noting that it won't be possible to actually play games on it.

Considering that PSP minis would be a perfect fit for most smartphones, it's possible that this functionality could be added at a later date... but I wouldn't hold your breath with the Zeus Z1 "PSPhone" rumoured for a Spring reveal. [EU Playstation Blog]

Uncharted 3 Footage & Resistance 3 Director's Cut

We've got a couple of explosive PS3 videos to warm you up on this bitterly cold afternoon. First of all, Naughty Dog have demoed Uncharted 3 at an LA reveal event, granting us some interesting new tidbits and (more importantly) some footage that isn't accompanied by Jimmy Fallon's inane hooting.

Nathan Drake will be following in Laurence of Arabia's footsteps on the trail of a fantastical lost desert city. However, he will be opposed by a mysterious order that's led by a despicable tyrant... and will apparently have to face his worst fears in the "Atlantis of the Sands." Slick new combat combos and the series' signature cinematic set pieces will propel this one onto many gamers' most anticipated lists. [Thanks, Gamerspawn]

Not enough action for you? How about some live action then. Sony have also released a director's cut version of Resistance 3's VGA trailer that bulks out the proceedings with thirthy seconds of recorded live action footage. The PS Blog states that this footage represents events that will happen in-game... so we can expect to see a gloomy warehouse or two along with some hectic gory gunslinging.

Winter Uprising Still Going Strong

The Indie Winter Uprising is still going from strength to strength on Xbox Live. Many developers have been holding back their titles to polish them up, but suffice to say, it's been a great two weeks of gaming with more still to come! Why not check out our extended coverage? It's a little galling that a few major sites have been knocking the promotion recently- but don't believe everything you read.

However, the release of (the excellent) Radiangames Crossfire 2 has brought some potentially sad news. Veteran Indie developer Luke Schneider, a mainstay of the service, may well have to move on to greener pastures after disappointing of Fireball. We hope that Crossfire 2 sales will allow him to continue developing Xbox Live Indie titles- and I'd urge you all to try the demo at the very least. [Radiangames]

Elder Scrolls V Will Use New Engine

It's about damn time. The Gamebryo engine may have powered some incredible games over the last few years- but most of us are also sick and tired of putting up with its tendency to brick every ten seconds. Fallout New Vegas, the latest Gamebryo title, really took the biscuit (and the piss) with an obscene amount of glitches... the worst of which- the infamous missing DLC bug- recently corrupted all of my save files. The patch can't come soon enough.

After officially announcing the rumoured TES V: Skyrim at last night's VGA ceremony, Bethesda's Nick Brecon has announced that it will run on an entirely new engine that has been bespoke tailored in-house.

We can now confirm that the TES V: Skyrim engine is all-new. And it looks fantastic.

It’s a new graphics/gameplay engine built internally. We’ll have more details down the road. - Bethesda's Nick Brecon via Twitter

Naturally we'll bring you more information about the new "Skyrim Engine" as details become available.

C4 And ITV Headed To PS3 This Week

It's a good time to own a PS3. Every other week seems to bring news of yet more value being added to the multimedia experience free of charge, with this latest offering courtesy of Channel 4 and ITV. The 4OD service (yay!) and the ITV player (meh) will provide a mix of free-to-view and premium programming, and are estimated to increase each channel's viewing figures by 10%. [The Guardian]

Channel 4 is "not saying no" to the idea of providing 4OD content to Xbox 360 customers... but unfortunately Microsoft are unlikely to take them up on it without being able to guarantee a significant financial return.

Infinity Blade Is The Fastest Grossing App, Ever

Infinity Blade, the recently-release action RPG built on the Epic iOS engine, has been confirmed as the fastest grossing app of all time. According to reports from Apple Game Center, over 271,000 users have downloaded and paid for the app: resulting in nearly one million pounds in revenue.This is seriously impressive considering that Infinity Blade has only been out for four days. [Appmodo]

Chair, the studio behind Infinity Blade, are no strangers to crafting big hits with Epic tech. Shadow Complex was one of last year's most impressive XBLA sleeper hits, and we can't wait to see what they come up with next.

Resistance 3 Is Already 100% Playable

Resistance 3 may still be 8 months away (with a confirmed release date of 6th September 2011), but Insomniac has claimed that the game is already completely playable from beginning to end. Community Manager James Stevenson dropped the following bombshell in a recent post on GAF:

I think… and we have to be careful about discussing exactly where we are in dev… but we totally have a lot of content done (2 years of dev so far) w/ a lot of polishing to go.

The game is playable start to finish on disc, which is pretty insane for an Insomniac game w/ this much time left.

So, what exactly are they going to do with all this time? Quite a lot, actually. As well as continually polishing the singleplayer, Insomniac will be working on and delivering a significantly improved multiplayer suite as well as deliberating whether to add Move or 3D support. [GAF]

Say what you want about Sony... but they know how to throw one hell of a party. The best shindigs are extremely exclusive affairs that take hours to get into- and true to form, it took over an hour and a half to cram the auditorium full of us tired journalists. Inside, however, awaited a playground paradise of free chemical-free German lager, plates of piping hot haute cuisine and the crop of the gaming press. Tell you what, it made the flaccid wrap and pack of crisps that I picked up at the Microsoft Play day look a little bit... pathetic.

Unfortunately their presentation didn't quite live up to the epic scope of the festivities. For all the pomp, circumstance and free German lager, the Sony pitch didn't really tread a lot of new ground. Brendan's recently been spoiling us rotten with a series of previews that demonstrate most of Sony's impressive lineup- but since I'm jonesing for my news desk, there are a few pieces of important information that I need to bring to your attention.